1.25.2012

I love Decorah.

Since moving back to Decorah, I've made it a mission to find meaningful activities and work opportunities to fill my time. I have come to realize just how important it is to feel passionate about what I do and how much I want to be involved in this community. I grew to be such a strong, confident person here in Decorah and I want to make sure that I help do that for others as they make their own way.

Yeah, I'm sure that all sounds cheesy but that is honestly how I feel. My ideal life would look like this:

Wake up
Get the kid's up
Make breakfast
Take them to school
*Work at WMC - CHECK!
Eat lunch/walk
**Work at Nisse - Almost check! (I scored an interview here tomorrow!!)
Pick up the kids from school
Help with homework
Make dinner
***Volunteer for PTO - A volunteer program dedicated to serving grades PreK-8th grade
Spend time with Gary before falling asleep

*I am so excited to start working for WMC. The ladies I interviewed with were all so lovely and I feel that it will be such a great learning opportunity for me. It doesn't hurt that though this is a .5 PT job, I still get benefits!! This just proves that I don't have to have a full-time job to make it through life :)

**Nisse Preschool recently advertised an opening for 10 hr/week Office Manager. I jumped at the chance to apply because I would LOVE to work at a preschool. Probably sounds silly but like I said above, I want to be sure I find work that allows me to give back to this community and the people that live here. What better way than to have a supporting role at a preschool. I will have a formal interview with them tomorrow so wish me luck!

***I somehow landed on the Decorah Community School website earlier and found something called PTO. I'm not quite sure what it stands for but I get the jist of it. "PTO volunteers raise money to help fund school equipment, field trips, bring guest authors to our schools, and much more. They also pitch in to show school staff how much we appreciate them, and offer fun events for the kids! PTO commitments can range from two hours to year long. Please join us!" Don't mind if I do. The things that caught my attention:

Book Fairs - I LOVED whenever we had book fairs in elementary. Those days were literally my favorite.
Math/Spell-a-thons - Love it.
Elementary Yearbooks - This would be sooooo much fun to do! Parents would love these and such great keepsakes for kids when they get older
Appreciation Baking/Treats - I need a reason to do more baking
Public/Media Relations - Great way to network and get to know people

Lastly, I noticed in their little brochure that they don't have a secretary...Why not??

4 comments:

Bridget said...

Ok...I LOVE THIS POST! I'm so happy for you. And I'm happy that your wonderful life is so close to my wonderful life:) Bring on the snack fests and sewing/crafting parties!

What's your job again at WMC? Marketing?

vanessawiest11 said...

Thanks, Bridget! I sure feels good to be happy again :)

Speaking of this weekend - I've got a cute little appetizer idea which involved the feta cheese dip and some sort of pepperoni concoction. I'm hoping it turns out. Additionally, instead of the half baked cookie (since the little pans we need to use are packed away) I've landed on molten chocolate cupcakes!

My job at WMC will be in marketing, yes. My title is marketing assistant.

Amanda said...

PTO stands for parent teacher organization, I think. You may have to have a child enrolled to take part. I love that you found your mono again, so awesome!

vanessawiest11 said...

That's what it stands for, yes. I found it later last night. As far as I can tell, there's a PTO in WI that requires you have a child/grandchild enrolled but Decorah's PTO brochure has "parents, teachers, and community" listed in its first phrase. I guess we'll have to see!